A roundup of today's other business stories in brief:
More than 73,000 PRSAs taken out
For the first quarter ended March 2006, more than 73,000 Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSA) with a total asset of €522 million were taken out, according to results released by the Pension Board yesterday.
More than 77,000 employers signed up with a PRSA provider, while almost 30,000 employees took out an account through an employer.
Accountancy body names president
Martin Wilson has been named president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) at the organisation's AGM meeting Friday.
Vincent Sheridan of the VHI was named deputy president and Jim Aiken was elected vice-president. Former president Jim Greely assumed the role of immediate past president.
DCC appoints energy unit chief
DCC yesterday named Donal Murphy, currently managing director of its SerCom division, as managing director of its energy and environmental services unit.
Mr Murphy, 41, will replace Tommy Breen, who is to become DCC's chief operating officer on July 1st. Mr Murphy has been with the company for eight years.
Niall Ennis, currently finance and development director of the SerCom division, will take over Mr Murphy's job.
Conor Costigan, currently finance and development officer of DCC's healthcare division, will take over as managing director of that unit from Kevin Murray who is due to resign at the end of June.
Local Press sale gets go-ahead
The UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said yesterday that it would not refer Johnston Press's acquisition of Local Press in the North to competition authorities for the moment.
The OFT said it was considering whether to accept undertakings from Johnston Press to address competition concerns arising from the merger with Local Press, the publisher of the Derry Journal. The OFT is looking at Johnston's offer to divest the Farm Week title. Johnston paid €95 million for Local Press last September.
Body Shop sales, profits rise 5%
British beauty products chain Body Shop, which is being taken over by France's L'Oreal, said yesterday like-for-like sales were up 5 per cent in the eight weeks starting February 26.
Body Shop also said in a statement its pretax profit rose 5 per cent to 37.6 million pounds in the 52 weeks to February 25, on turnover up 15 per cent to £486 million (€709 million).
On March 17, L'Oreal, the world's top cosmetics group, unveiled an agreed deal to buy Body Shop for £652 million, or 300 pence per share. Body Shop is 18 per cent owned by its founder Anita Roddick and her husband Gordon.
- (Reuters)
$7m Q2 loss at Warner Music
Warner Music Group swung to a $7 million (€5.5 million) loss for the fiscal second quarter, although its revenues climbed and its digital music sales surged.
The performance, which beat Wall Street forecasts, is likely to be seized on by the company's management to demand a higher offer from rival music group EMI, which made an unsuccessful $4.2 billion bid for Warner this week.
Edgar Bronfman Jr, Warner's chief executive, declined to discuss the EMI offer yesterday. Instead, he urged analysts to focus on the company's results.
- (Financial Times service)
